Nonsuch by XTC

Nonsuch, XTC's twelfth album, came out on Virgin on 27 April 1992, and following Oranges & Lemons it's a quieter, more considered affair, with the band's old psychedelic streak carried into new territory and a real taste for orchestral arrangements. Gus Dudgeon produced, Andy Partridge wrote 13 of the 17 songs, many of them on a keyboard for a change, Colin Moulding wrote the rest, Dave Gregory played guitar and keyboards, and Fairport Convention's Dave Mattacks came in to play drums.

The lyrics range across love, humanity, the Gulf War and P. T. Barnum, which is why it's often called the band's darkest and most political album, though you'd never guess it from the tunes. "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead" is a jaunty, strummed singalong with a hook that won't quit; "The Disappointed" is a wistful, jangling slice of pop; "Dear Madam Barnum" and "My Bird Performs" show off the band's knack for bittersweet melody. Partridge felt the title summed up the album's variety, and the cover borrows an illustration of the long-vanished Nonsuch Palace. On vinyl it was the band's third double album.

"The Disappointed" landed an Ivor Novello nomination, "Peter Pumpkinhead" became XTC's second single to top the US Modern Rock Tracks, and the album was nominated for a Grammy. But a fight over the cancelled third single, "Wrapped in Grey", saw them part company with Virgin in the UK soon afterwards. In 2013 Steven Wilson remixed and expanded it, adding demos and outtakes.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.